Liberty Global

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Signature MoveHelicopter View, Signature Page Only Cornerstone MoveWire Fifty Million on Trust Alone Competitive AdvantageAtlantic Canada Thinks Small—Exploit That Signature MoveTechnology Moat or Nothing Strategic PatternAspiration Interrogation at Every Meeting Operating PrincipleForest Thinker Needs a Tree Counter Risk DoctrinePre-Emptive Divestiture as Political Shield Capital StrategyTrusts Own Everything, Founder Owns Nothing Strategic PatternSpeed Kills Bureaucracy in Acquisition Signature MoveFully Deployed, Never Liquid Cornerstone MoveBuy the Quota, Chop the Shell Capital StrategySwinging for Multiples Not Singles Risk DoctrineWindfall Redeployment Not Windfall Savings Relationship LeverageGenerosity as Network Currency Operating PrinciplePromise First, Engineer Later Cornerstone MoveDinner Conversation to Billion-Dollar Platform Signature MoveLodges, Jets, and Yachts as Deal Magnets Signature MoveVisionary at the Helm, Operator at the Wheel Signature MoveStiritz: Poker-Player Odds on Back-of-Envelope LBOs Operating PrincipleBlank Calendar as Competitive Edge Cornerstone MoveOne-Page Analysis Then Pounce Signature MoveMalone: Scale as Virtuous Cycle, Tax as Obsession Cornerstone MoveAnarchic Decentralization, Dictatorial Capital Control Risk DoctrineInstitutional Imperative as CEO Kryptonite Decision FrameworkHurdle Rate as Supreme Filter Signature MoveSingleton: Phone Booth Tender at All-Time-Low Multiples Cornerstone MoveSuction Hose Buybacks at Maximum Pessimism Cornerstone MoveCash Flow as True North, Not Reported Earnings Signature MoveAnders: Sell Your Favorite Division Without Blinking Identity & CultureEngineers Over MBAs at the Helm Competitive AdvantageConcentrated Bets Over Diversified Dribbles Signature MoveMurphy: Leave Something on the Table Then Lever Up Capital StrategyTax Counsel Before Every Transaction Operating PrinciplePer-Share Value Not Longest Train Signature MoveBuffett: Float Flywheel from Insurance to Empire Strategic PatternGreedy When Others Are Fearful Cornerstone MoveEquity Stakes for Distribution Leverage Competitive AdvantageCableLabs Royalty-Free Standards Play Cornerstone MoveStock Architecture to Lock Control Competitive AdvantageBlackout as Franchise Leverage Capital StrategyTax-Sheltered Growing Annuity Capital StrategyInsurance Company Capital Over Banks Signature MoveNever Bet the Whole Farm Strategic PatternWarrants as Industry Coordination Currency Decision FrameworkEmpathy as Negotiation Architecture Signature MoveThrow the Keys on the Table Signature MoveOwn a Small Piece of a Winner You Can't Run Operating PrincipleDecentralized Cowboys with Centralized Benchmarks Risk DoctrineWhat If Not as Decision Filter Strategic PatternScale Economics as Survival Doctrine Signature MoveAsk One Sharp Question to Crack Open Intel Signature MoveCash Flow Not Earnings as Currency Cornerstone MoveBuy the System, Pay With Its Own Cash Flow Identity & CultureIntrovert's Edge Through Listening

Primary Evidence

"Cable & Wireless’s offer of US $ 3.1 billion was $ 1 billion above Digicel’s—thus easily ruling Digicel out—and $ 175 million richer than Liberty Global’s offer. Cable & Wireless’s proposal was enticing—a premium of 12.5 times forecasted EBITDA for the next year. Risley wanted to accept but Paddick felt he could milk a few more drops from Cable & Wireless’s new CEO. He called Bentley on a Saturday and though he didn’t name the second-place bidder, offered enough clues to identify it as Liberty Global. Bentley would have expected Paddick and Risley to choose Liberty Global if it came down to a close contest, given that Malone was a Columbus shareholder. So Paddick told Bentley he had to sweeten Cable & Wireless’s offer. It was a bold play: Paddick claimed he needed space between Cable & Wireless and Liberty Global even though Cable & Wireless was already the highest bidder—by nearly $ 200 million."

Source:Net Worth - John Risley, Clearwater, and the Building of a Billion-Dollar Empire

"Swept in and bought control of Sirius Broadcasting, the satellite radio service, through Liberty Capital, in a distressed (and extremely attractive) transaction at the nadir of the market in early 2009. He also bought back 11 percent of Liberty Capital’s shares in the second quarter of 2010. • Through his international cable arm, Liberty Global, announced the company’s largest acquisition ever, the purchase of German cable company Unitymedia for over €5 billion (less than seven times cash flow), as well as the sale of its sizable stake in Japan’s largest cable business for over nine times cash flow (with all proceeds sheltered from taxes by the company’s enormous pool of net operating losses). He also continued Liberty Global’s aggressive buyback program (the company has repurchased over half its shares in the last five years). Phew . . . so while corporate America generally stood frozen on the sidelines, these two wily CEOs engaged in an orgy of Keynesian “animal spirits.” They were, to qualify Buffett’s dictum, very greedy at a time when their peers trembled with unprecedented fear."

Source:The Outsiders_ Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

"News Corp. Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, who at various times has been my competitor—or my consigliere, gave me a master class in business strategy. I am still learning the black magic of programming from Barry Diller, who is a bona fide genius and a maestro of television and internet content. And I am reminded of my own ambition when I counsel Mike Fries, who is one of the hardest-working, team-building, risk-taking entrepreneurs I ever have seen, helping to build one of the biggest broadband companies in the world with Liberty Global."

Source:Born to Be Wired

Appears In Volumes

Net Worth - John Risley, Clearwater, and the Building of a Billion-Dollar Empire The Outsiders_ Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success Born to Be Wired